


Stolen Sword

by orphan_account, RougemageNick



Series: Just a RWBY OS full of OCs... [23]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-28
Updated: 2014-12-28
Packaged: 2018-03-04 01:19:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2904047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RougemageNick/pseuds/RougemageNick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From date one, when the Snowfall incident occurred, none of Nick and Sasha's dates seem to go very well. They want a single good date, but who knows how they will end...Jay and Anna spend time getting Anna's weapon upgraded while Nick and Sasha look forward to either more disasters, or a real romantic evening...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stolen Sword

**Author's Note:**

> IF YOU'D LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT THE ARTWORK, SEE THE NOTES BELOW. ---Ladies and gentlemen, this is your first author, MZT1418 ^_^. We've added a thorough Bio chapter. For those who'd like to see it, it gives information on physical appearance, personality, weaponry, all that. If you're confused by something about the characters (which happens, I'm not the best writer,) then you can read that or leave a comment about it. Thanks ^_^.

Stolen Sword:

Nick closed the door of the dorm room behind him after he and Sasha walked in. They both sighed and slumped back on Nick's bed, still in their casual wear from breakfast. Sasha glanced up at Jay and Anna, who sat across from eachother on Jay's bed, meditating.

"How long have you two been doing that?" she mumbled.

"Since about twenty five minutes after you left..." Jay answered, not looking away from Anna.

"We've been gone for two hours!!" Sasha replied.

"So how was your date?" Anna asked, also keeping her eyes square on Jay's.

Nick made a grumbling noise and sat up, "We'd uh...Rather not talk about it...Suffice to say that the fire was  **not** my fault...The earthquake may have been..." he muttered.

"There wouldn't have been any earthquakes if I had thrown that car..." Sasha said, sitting up next to Nick. "It's been four days, you two...You haven't left the dorm except for classes or hygiene grooming...Are you...Gonna go out and do something?" Sasha continued.

"We went to a party, social batteries are depleted, get off our backs." Anna answered.

"Agreed. And besides, we have an appointment tomorrow anyway, so let us just not have to deal with other people until then, ok?" Jay continued for her.

"Isn't it like...Bad for your health to be so anti-social?" Nick asked.

"I've been anti-social all my life...Why do you think I walked through the Grimm territory...Because I didn't want to deal with people." Jay muttered with a smug smile.

"And I just have social anxiety from years and years of prejudice and abuse, so excuse me for wanting to tell everyone else in the world to kiss my ass." Anna finished, also smiling.

Nick rolled his eyes, putting his arm around Sasha's shoulder. "Wait, an appointment? With who? For what?" Nick asked.

"Grant. I'm planning to get an upgrade on my weapon." Anna answered, glancing over at Sasha, who smiled back at her.

"Wow, but wait...A weapon's upgrade is very expensive...You have money for that? If not, me or Jay co-"

"Already tried that...She refused...Grant's already covered that..." Jay interrupted Nick.

Anna's cat ears twitched, "Yup. Grant's apparently using my weapon to test out a very special material...Hard to acquire, apparently, he's been looking forward to an opportunity to use it, and since it's the first real practical application he's testing, he's offering to do it for free, saying I'm a test subject...He offered to pay  **me** originally, for being a willing applicant to a potentially dangerous material, but...I couldn't take that...So free is pretty much a compromise...And also...Thank you for your kind offers, you're both gentlemen and all...But I'm not gonna go running to you two anytime I can't make a purchase...I can make my own money..." she concluded.

"And besides, Beacon paid us for our two missions, which was an incredibly generous payment, which we still have to thank Ozpin for, so none of us are suffering financially..." Jay continued.

"Haha, Hunter Academies are like guilds in video games...Find jobs on the job boards that people submit for us pros to handle, we go out and do the thing, we come back and get a payment from the client, or in the case of our missions, the government...Damn, Monty, isn't it a good time to be a huntsman..." Nick stated.

"So like...Since our missions were...Considered higher class...For upper-level huntsmen or huntresses...We got paid a whole fortune...More difficult missions, higher rewards...I love those kinds of video games..." Jay continued.

"Nerd..." Sasha muttered.

"Hot nerd..." Anna muttered after her. She then smiled as she glanced back at Jay, whose face had turned red.

"W-well either way...I wish you the best on your next date, whenever that may be..." Jay muttered, closing his eyes and continuing to meditate, still red-faced.

"Yup...I got a good feeling about the next one...And besides...I've always had some pretty good luck anyway..." Nick said happily, pulling Sasha over against him.

* * *

 

Nick and Sasha walked aimlessly around the halls after Jay and Anna left to see Grant. They didn't really want to stay stuck in the dorm room, especially since they had classes this morning anyway. They wandered between the halls before and after classes, collecting homework for Jay and Anna during each period. As their appointment with Grant was involving Anna's weapon, they'd have to go through the whole process of having her weapon re-registered in the school's records. Weaponry was a big part of the school's teachings, so if something happened to a weapon, they did in fact need to register it the change. The last class of the day ended at around four p.m...Even though it was the break between semesters, the teachers were still holding classes for extra credit. But team's JNAS and SCRT were obligated to attend these classes to get their missed days in. This Friday was the last day the had to attend their make-up classes. 

"So would you like to try again?" Nick asked idly as they waited for the other students to leave the room. It would be easier to approach the teacher once the other students had asked their pieces about the homework or such.

"Hm? Try what?" Sasha asked, finishing notes in her scroll from the board.

"A date...You wanna try again? Like...Tomorrow? Tomorrow's Wednesday...We don't have classes until the afternoon...We could...Go for a morning date...You know... Breakfast...Maybe...Do an activity together?" he asked, glancing sidelong at her.

"An activity..." she chuckled. "I do kinda like those...Alright, let's try it...Couldn't be much worse than yesterday's..." she said, laughing a little at the memory.

"Yeah...I think I remember a job involving that place a long while back...They're lucky they didn't go at night...It's much more difficult then..." Nick muttered. They stood and made their way down the stairs to the front of the class to ask Professor Goodwitch for Jay and Anna's homework. Neither of them liked talking to her much...She was very serious, and was difficult to talk to even if one wanted to.

"Well what kind of activity would we be going for? Oh, and while we're out, we'll need to pick up more food for Mr Gump, unless Anna and Jay are remembering it...In which case, we can just grab a few 24-packs of some soda or something and some ice dust for the dorm..." Sasha stated.

"Actually, I think I can do us one better...With the money we got from the mission, I can get one of those really small fridges for the dorm...They run really efficiently on ice dust, and that way we wouldn't have to deal with those little ice patches from accidentally spilling some of the ice dust on the ground..." Nick said. They suddenly stopped as they found Tia and Chris standing square in front of them with their arms behind their back. Nick and Sasha immediately took a large step back, anticipating a prank of some sort.

"Relax, we ain't prankin' you today...We don't prank our friends...Except on April 13th. That's a special day." they said together. Sasha still found it incredibly creepy that they could speak together so easily.

"You only prank your friends...On your birthdays?" Nick asked, chuckling a little.

"How do you know that's our birthday?!" they asked together, both assuming identical stances of surprise.

"Sam's told me the stories you've bragged about...Like your tenth birthday for instance? That was just sick...Why would you use kittens in that manner..." Nick said, looking at them in annoyance.

They both put their opposite hand to their chin and smirked, "Oh relax, we put the kittens back unharmed, and the people's hair grew back, ok? Every precaution was taken for the kitten's safety." they responded. Sasha stood by wide eyed, with a shocked expression at what she was hearing, not sure what to say about this. "Anyway, we were just wondering where Jay and Anna are today..." they said, finally getting to their point.

"Oh, they're in town, finally, getting Anna's weapon upgraded...It's about time they got fresh air..." Nick responded. Sasha still hadn't gotten her wits back enough to speak, and was still trying to process apparent hair loss and kittens...

"Well how long is that gonna take? We got Mickey to give the cannons to our team yesterday...We could play a round of Cannon Hunter...And Jay sent us a message that he wanted to talk to us...Oh, and another thing, we're going to the pier tomorrow, to meet some of the students and people coming in from the other Kingdoms for the Vytal Festival and tournament..." they said happily.

"You know, for hunters in training, you both are very childl-...Wait, what? Uh...Ok, when he returns, I'll give him a message from you...Alright?" Nick told them. They both nodded and ran off.

"W-what...Happened with the kittens?" Sasha asked tentatively when the twins were gone.

"Hm? Oh, nothing, they were safe...The twins just decorated them to look like zombies...And then there was a fire...But uh...Let's forget that and get back to the dorm...Dinner's in two hours...Jay and Anna'll probably be back by then..." Nick answered as they walked through the halls.

"I hear they're setting up a dance for the start of the next term...Wonder what that'll be like..." Sasha muttered.

"Perhaps you'd like to go with me? Jay and Anna might not go themselves, but hey, it could be fun...If they're actually setting up a dance..." Nick said.

Sasha nodded, "Maybe it'd be a date without incident...If they're actually doing a dance, I'd be happy to go with you, Nick." she answered, leaning her head against Nick's shoulder. When they got back to the dorm, Nick reached out to open the door after unlocking it, and found Jay and Anna already inside. They laid back together on Jay's bed, both propping themselves up a bit with a pillow while they drank soda.

The looked over at Nick and Sasha and both smiled, "Hiya..." Jay said.

"Wow, ok, that was sudden...So what took you so long?..." Sasha said as they walked in.

Anna lifted the legs of her knee-length shorts, showing off the cat-faces at the top of her stockings, which came up to her mid-thighs. She wore those, and a pink t-shirt...Out of character from her usual purple or black. Jay wore his grey shirt and jeans, with his jacket folded on top of his dufflebag.

"I got new shoes I wanted...She got new leggings she wanted...Grant's gonna need till either the end of Friday to modify Anna's weapon...And we got a six-pack of root beer to share." Jay answered, gesturing to the root beer cans on the nightstand next to him.

"Well Tia and Chris wanted to talk to you...And dinner's being served in two hours, so yeah...And tomorrow, me and Sasha are going out..." Nick filled them in.

"Wait, again? Well I hope it goes well for you this time. We'll be here..." Anna said.

"Yup...I've got to talk to the twins, and we've got homework to do, haven't we? Tomorrow's a Wednesday, so we can spend the morning finishing that together..." Jay said, leaning over and planting a kiss on Anna's cheek.

Nick sat down on his bed, grabbing one of the root beers from the pack. Sasha also took one, but instead went up and laid back in Nick's hammock...The first time she'd ever done so while they all waited for dinner.

"So I guess tomorrow's gonna be pretty exciting...Can't wait..." Nick muttered.

* * *

 

Nick and Sasha climbed off of the bullhead in the commercial district of Vale. They'd decided to wear casual wear again, and Nick had left his sword at home, opting to keep his gun with him instead, keeping it attached to his belt rather than under his arm. Having withdrawn money with the terminal at Beacon before they left, rather than Nick forgetting to, they decided to go straight for breakfast.

"So all I'm saying is that it becomes more and more blatant the more you get into it...After thinking about it, I think I can only come to the conclusion that people hate faunus because faunus are seen as more animal than humans are...People only look at their faunus trait and immediately identify them not as human, but as an animal, with an animal body..." Sasha continued. Their talk had gone to faunus rights and it's causes after Nick had brought up faunus.

"Yeah, no, I completely agree...It's almost like my arm here..." he replied, lifting his arm after taking another drink of his coffee. They sat at one of the many tables outside a cafe, having ordered the largest coffees they could, a piece of chocolate cake for Nick, and a strawberry shortcake for Sasha. "People look at this and think of me as like...Less than a full man. I'm not human to others because I'm less than their perfect picture of a human...It's the same with faunus...They're not exactly what someone thinks is a human, so they're not human..." Nick continues.

"Yeah, that's actually a part of developmental psychology, I think...We make prototypes of things, and use it to file things away into categories..." she said.

"So you're saying that if people prototyped faunus in the same category as humans, that-"

"That the racism for faunus would practically disappear..." she interrupted. "Humans would see faunus as people rather than animals, and the whole separation we do to them would just...Be pointless...It's already pointless, but if that happened, people would at least see it..." she continued as the waiter brought over their cakes.

"So hold on...If it's developmental psychology...Does that mean it's the parent's fault? Or the teachers? Like...We're actually taught to discriminate the two...Because that's what the last generation was taught...Right?" Nick asked.

Sasha nodded as she took a large bite of her shortcake, "That's exactly it...Every generation that's previously discriminated against faunus is to blame...Which means that every generation for...About...The last eleven or twelve hundred years or so is to blame for what the faunus have to deal with now..." she finished, taking her second bite of shortcake.

Nick took his third bite and paused for a minute to swallow before speaking up, "So if it's just one big chain, how exactly do you think we'll go about fixing it?" Nick asked, smiling a little.

Sasha's face lit up, and for a few seconds, she looked like she could stand up and set up a projector and do a whole presentation on the wall of the cafe, "Well the way I see it, the problem is being taught to separate faunus and human from an early age, so I think the best way to change this is in two ways...One, you can let the kids figure it out for themselves. How, you ask? Great question, Nick. Simply by letting them interact, we can let the kid find out for themselves that faunus are exactly like humans...Let them learn that they can grow up side by side. We should then tell the history from both sides...Right now, we teach things like the Faunus Rights War, or the history of the White/Red Fang, simply from a human point of view...As though humans were the only people involved. And that makes us seem like the victims...But that's total bullshit...The faunus were the ones being attacked...And the next generation should know that." she finished her rant in a slight huff, taking her third bite of shortcake.

"Wow, ok...That makes plenty of sense to me...I agree...But two things, one, you said you had two ways...And two, who exactly is going to implement this change in teaching?" he asked.

Sasha smirked, finishing her fourth bite, "I've had this conversation with Anna, and she agrees...That the answer to both those questions is the same. That it's gonna be people like herself and I...Huntresses and huntsman...Who people view as heroes and preservers of peace...We're basically the example...For everyone in the kingdoms to follow...The way we lead is the way people have to follow...People like Mickey, who's a teacher...And Alice, who also helps to teach children gymnastics or martial arts or self defense...I mean think about it...Growing up, every kid's bookshelf is covered in story-books about huntsman and huntresses who were regarded as heroes...They look up to us...Society looks up to us...The government looks up to us, even...If we show kids that faunus are just as capable of being the heroes they love...Then everyone will begin to follow our example, and treat faunus as people too." she concluded.

Nick nodded a couple times, finishing his chocolate cake, "Ok...But that sounds...Like...That first solution kinda begets the second solution...Because you have to remember, we're pretty much kids too...If we're taught to discriminate, then our example is, in turn, discrimination...So..." he gestured for her to continue as she took her final bite of shortcake.

"It does...And you're right...So that means that we, as first years, have to do our best to make sure discrimination is weeded out, and that people like that one bully, what's his name..." she trailed off.

"Winchester?" Nick offered.

Sasha nodded, "Yes, Winchester, that people like him are taught to better themselves...Either in a friendly manner...Or uh, the not-so-friendly manner..." she said menacingly, gesturing with her head towards Loachsamhail, which rested on the chair behind her.

Nick chuckled, "You have got...So much passion...It's amazing...And hot..." he muttered.

Sasha smiled, blushing a little, "Thank you...I just...Don't want faunus people to have to live in fear, you know?...We're all barely clinging to life enough as it is, what with Grimm surrounding us at every angle, ready to crush us up and consume us...And then we have to go and add to that by fighting amongst eachother about who's more or less human? It's just a whole lot of bullshit to me...And the negative feelings just draw grimm in droves, more and more...We're killing ourselves more than the Grimm are..." she muttered.

Nick nodded, "Well...I know you'll make it happen...If anyone could, it's you...We all believe in you..." he said confidently, taking the last gulp of his coffee.

Sasha's smile brightened, "Thank you Nick...And it's certainly helpful knowing I'll have your support..." she responded.

"Not just mine, but Anna's...And even though he might say differently, Jay's too...Plus team SCRT, including Rachel, who I think would support you under the guise of wanting to watch you fail, but don't quote me on that...And Mickey...And Alice...And most of Beacon's staff...All of them count too, and we can't forget them, so yeah..." he finished. Sasha grabbed her coffee in hand as the waiter brought over the check. Sasha was quick and snatched it before Nick could get it though.

"If you're paying for whatever activity, then I got this..." she said. She pulled the cash from her pocket, to which Nick looked slightly surprised...He hadn't seen her get that cash from the Beacon terminal, so he wasn't sure where that had come from. Either way, she counted out the money and told the waiter to keep the change as she stood and took her cup of coffee, and Loachsamhail in her other hand, hoisting it onto her back. Nick sighed and stood, taking his cup and suddenly turning to the right, tossing it towards the garbage can and making it in.

"Yes, perfect. Three points." he muttered. Sasha giggled and walked beside Nick as they left. They walked down the street to the corner, where they waited for the weight sensors to pick them up, so the crossing lights would be activated. After a minute of silent walking, they past a dust shop near the corner. Nick stopped in his tracks and looked to his left at the dust shop.

"Monty...Fucking...Damnit..." he muttered.

Sasha looked past him at the windows...All of which were blacked out. But the times printed on the door said that they were currently open.

"Nick, maybe it's nothing...Maybe they're just...Setting things up...Even though they were supposed to be open an hour ago...Gods damnit...Let's just check to be sure..." she said. They turned and Sasha leaned forward to knock on the door. From inside they heard grumbling noises, a brief and muffled shout, followed by footsteps up to the door.

"GO AWAY." someone yelled through the door. Nick and Sasha both sighed at the same time. Nick reached out his hand this time to knock.

"ARE YOU DEAF? GO AWAY. YOU GOT A DEATHWISH OR SOMETHIN'?" the voice shouted.

Nick looked sidelong at Sasha and gestured to the door. Sasha sighed, "Well then...Here we go...Let's hope the next date goes according to plan..." she muttered as she raised her hand, clenched in a fist, and slammed it against the door, throwing it completely off it's hinges into the store.

* * *

 

Nick pulled his gun as the man who shouted at them, who was armed, looked back at them.

"GUYS, WE HAVE A PROBLEM." he shouted, before several more men in identical uniforms, came out from the back room, from which Nick and Sasha heard two different pitched muffled voices. Their uniform made it clear who they were...

Sasha drew her sword, "Red Fang..." she growled.

"It's  **White**  Fang, human scum." one of the men corrected. They wore their staple Grimm masks, and all drew weapons.

"Not to me. A white flag, once covered in blood, is white no more." she retorted, dashing into the room and bring her blade above her head, turning on her heel and bringing it down hard on the man who shouted at her. No one had time to even move against her, and the man himself could barely protect himself from being sliced in two by her blade, which slammed him to the ground, cracking the tile with his skull. The men on either side of Sasha raised their weapons. Nick pointed his gun and shot the hand of one of the men, tossing his gun and causing him to stumble, blood dripping from his hand. Sasha dodged the sword of the man on the other side and slammed her blade into his abdomen, driving the attack through and tossing him behind her, through one of the blacked-out windows. Nick immediately raised his prosthetic arm, already turning it to the ice canister and blasting one of the men, coating their entire body in inches of ice. The remaining four men backed away a little, looking back and forth between Nick and Sasha...But then they realized...They were in a dust shop. The men immediately began grabbing the bottles of dust from the shelves, one of them shattered the glass over the counter with the handle of his blade and took two of the fire crystals from the display.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Nick muttered as they began to throw the dust towards Sasha and Nick. Nick ducked out of the way of one of the fire crystals that the man by the counter threw, then raised his gun, which was immediately showered with ice dust from one of the other three men, and covered in a block of ice. His jaw dropped and he dodged back as Sasha shot the man who'd thrown the ice dust. The third man came up from behind Nick and tried to attack him with a red blade, which he immediately turned and blocked with his left arm, tossing the blade out of the man's hand and slamming the gun, covered in ice, against his skull with force enough to crack the ice. Sasha was trying to get close to the man by the counter, who held up several dust crystals in one hand, and vials of powder dust in the other, and was tossing them at Sasha, who held up her sword to block them, unable to get close. Nick raised his gun as the man noticed him, and threw a fire dust vial at him. Nick's shot broke the fire dust vial and his the man square in the head. The man fell to the ground, only protected from death by his aura. The fire dust vial that Nick had shot ignited immediately. Both Sasha and Nick raised their arms against the heat as the dust reacted, causing an enormous bellowing wave of fire.

The fire began heating up the vials of dust still on the shelves, causing eruptions of ice down the shelves and lighting through the air. Nick's prosthetic arm absorbed most of the lightning, the artificial nerves twitching a little with each bolt, causing quick bursts of shooting pain that didn't much phase Nick. Sasha raised her broadsword flat in front of her, using her aura to protect herself as the blade absorbed most of the bolts. The dust in the shop was erupting in violent chain reactions, causing columns of fire and surging bolts of electricity, with which the lights turned back on, flashing brightly. The remaining man from the group, who had jumped behind the counter, was trying to find  way out of the room, and reached for the door at the back of the store and yanking it open, then closed behind him. Sasha saw him go and tried to move to stop him but slipped on ice, which had begun to crawl around the room and form dangerous stalagmites, one of which suddenly popped up right next to her head as she hit the ground. She did her best to get up, slamming her blade into the ground for support, while Nick was simply dodging the fire and shooting down icy spires as they formed around him.

The large dispensers of dust on the far side of the room by Nick were beginning to crack under the pressure put on them by the raging elements in the air and on the ground around them. The ice crawling on the floor was now infused with fire dust and lightning dust, making it crawl at an incredible rate, and being resistant to the fire which covered it. Nick glanced around, then looked at Sasha, who was slowly trying to make her way to the back of the room, dodging the hectic obstacles that blocked her path. Nick sighed and jumped over one of the shelves, only by luck not being struck by any of the dust, and rolled to his feet between the dust dispensers on the wall, and the crawling ice and fire. He slammed his palm to the ground, which shook immediately as he unleashed the earth dust from his palm, causing a small fissure in the ground. The whole building shook, the ice climbing the walls and floors cracked. Sasha took the opportunity to stand up and steady herself with her blade, as the ice cracked beneath her feet. The fissure caused the ice dust to stop in it's course, long enough for Nick to put his hand forward and touch it to the cracking ice, unleashing air dust directly into it and blasting the dust back. After that was done, he lifted his hand and emptied the wind container, blasting the dust filling the room. It splattered across the walls, leaving burned spots and frozen spots, as well as some spots struck by lightning. Cracks moved up the walls and through the windows, which didn't look safe to go near. Sasha sighed as she looked around, then nodded to Nick in thanks.

Nick looked around the store at the unconscious members of the White Fang, who were covered in ice, and had their clothes burnt. After counting, he looked at Sasha, "I thought there were five of them..." he muttered. Sasha sighed as she went to the door over to the back, pulling her sword onto her shoulder by the gun barrel.

"No...There were six." she said as she opened the door. Inside, two more members of the White Fang held guns to the heads of the store owner and her husband. The woman, who was clearly the leader of this operation and who held the gun to the man's head, chuckled, smirking below the Grimm mask.

"You look like you're Beacon students...Future huntsman...We don't need to be protected by humans. And either way, you've made a huge mistake getting in our way..." she said angrily, jamming the gun a little closer to the man.

Nick and Sasha stood on the outside of the door, "You have to know there's no way out...We broke down the door...While the store was darkened...You know the cops have already been alerted by the security system...Give up, and put down your weapons..." Sasha commanded.

The two members looked back and forth between themselves and looked back at Sasha and Nick. "How about you leave before we kill these two..." the woman threatened.

"But...We're supposed to kill them anyway...That's why we came to begin with...So...Wouldn't it make the most sense to just kill them anyway?" the man added, putting his free hand to his chin.

"The woman turned and slapped his arm, "Shut up, dumbass!!!" she snapped.

Nick sighed, "Bored now." he raised his left hand and fired two quick beams of ice, which struck both of their hands over the guns, covering their hands and the guns in blocks of ice. Both of the White Fang members looked incredibly shocked, and both of their jaws dropped. Sasha immediately jumped forward and slammed the point of her sword into the chest of the woman, who stood closer, and jabbed forward with her strength behind her, shoving her into the other White Fang member, throwing both of them back against the far wall, right through three rows of crates, that were now broken and on the ground.

"You know if that dust hadn't been pre-sealed in the containers with the newest rubber polymer stuff, that we'd have a similar situation in here that we did out there, right?" Nick asked, gesturing behind him at the destroyed store.

Sasha shrugged, "Eh...But that was...Nick, how did you hit those ice shots like that? That was incredible..." she stated, smiling as she bent down to untie the rope around the hostage's wrists.

"I have...No idea...I just kinda shot and hoped for the best...I mean really, with their guns to the heads of hostages, the only thing I was hoping for was to shoot first..." he said as they two hostages stood up. They were both faunus, the woman having scales over her wrists and forearms like a snake, and the man having hands for his feet like a monkey, which were also bound behind his back. The cops arrived in about ten minutes, at which time, Nick and Sasha had finished breaking the ice covering the white fang members in the store itself and tying them up with the other two. The police were analyzing the scene, while Sasha and Nick stood talking to the store owners, after their statement interviews.

"Sorry about pretty much trashing your store...We'll pay for the damages" Nick said to them.

The woman, whose name was Claire, nodded to Nick, "Thank you, we'll...Probably be needing the money...And no no, we should thank you...Having a beaten down store is a small price compared to our lives...And really, I'd rather see it destroyed than have to sell it out to those fuckers in the-...What was it you called them?" she stopped, turning to Sasha.

"The Red Fang..." she answered.

"That's it, I'd rather see it destroyed than sold out to those Red Fang fucks." she growled.

"Well what do you two think, as Beacon students, I mean...With all the recent robberies and such, I trust your competence more than the police, so tell me...Do you think they'll be giving us more trouble?" Claire's husband, Jason, asked.

Nick shrugged, "I haven't been in the loop with alot of my old contacts as of late, but my money is on no. And if they do..." Nick pulled out a card with the numbers of their teammates on it and handed it to him, "Call us..." he assured as Jason took the card.

"When did we have cards made?" Sasha asked, eyeing the card in Jason's hand.

"Ozpin gives them out to each of the teams...Or at least he makes them available for the uh...More civil protective ones...In case we get into situations like this..." he answered.

"Does he have some sort of resource for every tiny situation?" she muttered.

"Well either way, thank you...We certainly will give you a call if this happens again..." Claire interjected.

Nick and Sasha nodded and glanced at the cops, who didn't seem to be paying them any attention anymore. They looked at eachother and shrugged, walking away from the scene back to the airfield. It was getting close to class time, and they didn't want to be late.

"That was fun...We should do that more often..." Sasha said idly to Nick, taking his hand and lacing their fingers.

Nick nodded, "Hells yeah. Whenever we get the chance." he said back as they walked...

* * *

 

"So another fun story to bring home to our teammates..." Nick muttered as they walked the hallway towards their dorm.

Sasha nodded and sighed, "I wonder what they've been doing while we were gone...What do they get up to..." Sasha wondered out loud.

"I imagined mostly...Kissing..." Nick said in response. Sasha chuckled and grabbed his arm, halting them in their tracks.

"Shhh...We can totally sneak up on them...Let's catch them doing whatever it is..." she said, crouching. Nick smiled and crouched with her as they walked around the corner.

"You know Jay can see through things, right?" Nick whispered as silently as possible.

"Oh come on...He can't see something if he's not looking for it, so let's go..." she insisted as they moved carefully up to the door. Sasha carefully unlocked it and Nick reached slowly to open it...

He threw open the door and both jumped in yelling "HA!!" Jay and Anna sat up on their backs with their legs up. They barely looked up from Anna's scroll, which she'd opened to the tablet form so they could watch anime together.

Jay closed one of his eyes, squinting with the other at them, "Oh my gods!!! For fucks sakes, why are you covered in dust?!" he demanded, his eyes fading from gold so he could look at them properly.

Nick and Sasha looked at eachother, "What? Covered in...Oh, long story..." Nick answered.

"Well...Can you...Like...Cover your aura, it's like staring at the sun while you're like that..." he muttered, rubbing his eyes. Anna had paused the anime they were watching to look at them.

"So...Long story? We like stories...Let's hear it..." she said, putting her scroll aside.

"No no no, wait, hold on, I got this...Ok...Uh...Distractions...Masks...Dust........F-...Faunus troubles...Go for it." he said, sitting across from Jay. Jay smirked, looked at Anna, and commenced whispering quickly. He continued whispering to her, and listening to her whisper back for almost a minute before Jay nodded and moved his legs off the bed, sitting up and clearing his throat, rubbing his hands together.

"Alright...Here's what happened...You were distracted from your activity when you passed by a dust shop and noticed it was being harassed by...The...Oh hold on, I have this...Red!! Red Fang. You passed by a local dust shop owned by a faunus couple, I'm not sure about genders or traits, but you passed by and noticed that they were being harassed by Red Fang members. There were probably..." Jay's eyes wandered back and forth between Sasha and Nick, looking them over and trying to keep his eyes open, even though they were tearing up in what they could only assume as a brightness only he saw. "Seven or eight...Of them...And in the strife that followed, the dust in the shop was set off by the Red Fang members...In a desperate attempt to bring you down...But you defended yourself with that big-ass sword...And...You...Just regenerated...You used your ice dust canister to immobilize some of the men...And used your earth canister to stop them from escaping...The cops didn't arrive until everything was finished...I wager..." he pointed to Sasha, "You were the one who finished off the last one...And you paid the couple for damages to the shop..." he finished, sighing and nodding.

Nick and Sasha looked between eachother and clapped a few times. "Alright, so, how did you know it was Red Fang?" Nick asked.

"You said faunus troubles...And that's the same reason I knew it was a faunus couple who owned the store...It's been all over the news lately that the Red Fang's been killing off members trying to make clean getaways or even old members who got out a long time ago..." he answered.

"But how did you know it was a couple? It could have just been one..." Sasha retorted.

"It could have been...But you two are covered in dust...Dust that's preserving the aura of pretty much everything it came in contact with...That's how I know it was two faunus owners, that's how I know you paid them, because your scroll, though in your pocket, is also covered in dust...And the aura of another two people...And since your enemies auras are no where near that scroll, there's only that option left...It's how I know there were seven or eight opponents and that they were the ones setting off the dust...I can see the aura of the people who were handling the dust before it got on you...There is always an answer, if one only has the patience to look for it..." he finished, raising a hand in front of his chest and closing his eyes and sighing. "The answer I'm looking for right now...Is if anyone has any sunglasses..." he said.

Sasha frowned and glanced around, "You guys have the curtain closed and the lights off..." she pointed out.

Jay nodded, "Perhaps...But my eyes are burning from looking at the dust signatures..." he answered, keeping his eyes firmly closed.

"Here," Anna said as she leaned forward to the end of the bed and grabbed a small slip of cloth from her table and handing it to Jay. "Sometimes I need to sleep with one of these...You can use it for now..." she offered him the sleeping mask.

He nodded, "Thank you..." he said, putting it on and laying back.

"So that's what we did...What did you guys do?" Sasha asked, going and sitting up in Anna's hammock.

"Well Jay had a conversation with the twins about something he adamantly refuses to tell about, and will only repeat the word 'Spoilers' over and over again in regards to...We got breakfast, came back, and sat down to watch a short anime about a haunted school in a different dimension with an absurd amount of death and gore..." she answered.

Sasha's eyes widened, "Uh...Ok then..." she said, not knowing what else to say...They didn't stay seated long. In fact in only a few minutes, the room was completely active as everyone began to go about their routines to get themselves ready for their afternoon classes. Nick and Sasha walked out of the room ahead of Anna and Jay, who walked more slowly behind them, hand in hand. Their first class was Practical Combat Training with Professor Goodwitch, and only Sasha seemed to have particular interest in that class. Jay sat on the far end of the team, with Anna to his left, and Nick to her left, with Sasha at the end of the group. After a little while of the class, during which Cardin Winchester got in trouble for getting into a loud verbal confrontation with Pyrrha Nikos, of Team JNPR, saying his whole team could and insistently  **would** crush her (to which she responded with some excitement, telling them they could all challenge her anytime they wanted,) Nick leaned over and began whispering to Jay.

"Hey...Hey Jay..." he called. Jay grumbled and turned to him, "Spar with me..." he urged.

Jay frowned and shook his head, "Not in the mood..." he muttered.

"Aw, come on man...For a friend...I want a fight...I haven't had a fight since...Uh..." he stopped, realizing his mistake.

"Since this morning, yes, I know, your aura is still brightly lit with dust." Jay finished for him. Anna glanced back and forth between them, not caring to get involved. Sasha was too busy watching a match between one of the foreign students, a girl with a pair of kusarigama that could change into dual revolvers. She was in a fight with a blond, curly haired boy who used a bow with explosive dust-tipped arrows. The girl, Emerald Sustrai, had a clear advantage over the boy, whose long range did little to stop her from shooting him down constantly. The boy, named Al Eclipse, was quickly losing strength, and it was clear that he would lose this fight. But his continuous use of puns on the battlefield angered not only Professor Goodwitch, but Emerald as well, who was becoming more aggressive with each passing pun.

"O-ok, I meant I haven't had a **good** fight..." Nick pressed on.

"Cease your incessant pestering, I do not wish to get into a match at the moment." Jay grumbled louder. The fight had ended, with Emerald as the clear victor. The boy was standing up as his teammates came out onto the field to help him up.

"Well...Perhaps a good ol' fashioned kick-ass sparring match will help get rid of your bad mood...Do you really get this upset when you have to deal with social situations?" Nick asked. Jay always had a bit of a mood when outside of the dorm, but he often muttered alot to his darker thoughts to calm himself down.

"My mood?! I should put you down just for that. Sorry that my apparent mood swings are a mild inconvenience for you. If you want a fight, let's go. I'll take it out on you, if that's what you really want." he snapped, his left eye turning red, with the same crimson cracks appearing in the gold flash of his right eye.

Nick was taken aback a little, "Dude, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like tha-"

"Do you two have something you'd like to share with the whole class?" Ms. Goodwitch interrupted Nick from the arena. Both Nick and Jay snapped to attention, and Sasha slapped her forehead with her palm.

"Uh...No, we just-"

"We wanted to volunteer for a match. Me and my partner, Nick." Jay said, standing.

Anna grabbed Jay's hand, and suddenly his right eye shown only gold again, "Jay...Don't take out your anger on a friend..." she said, looking into his eyes.

Jay sighed and rubbed his eyelids, nodding, "You're right...Nevermi-"

"I accept your challenge, Jay." Nick said loudly over him, so Goodwitch could hear.

Nick looked him in the eyes and nodded, "It's ok, dude...I can take it...Let a little anger out on a guy who can handle the hits. And besides, what I said might not have been the best thing to say anyway, so I gotta make up for it...Don't worry, I'll still get up in two pieces." he joked, waving his prosthetic arm and standing, going over to the stairs to head down onto the arena. Jay looked at Anna for a few moments, raising an eyebrow. She shrugged and released his hand, sitting back in her chair as Jay trotted over to the stairs and down onto the arena. Nick stood over to the far side of the arena, standing firmly on his feet, snapping his fingers and bouncing on his legs. Jay groaned a little at this, but took his position opposite Nick on the arena. He stood, stretching for a few seconds, like a dog after getting up from a nap.

"Begin at your leisure." Ms. Goodwitch instructed.

"Leisure's a funny word..." Nick muttered. Jay groaned again and dashed forward. Nick raised an eyebrow. Jay'd never been so forward with his attacks before...He always waited. But then again, he'd still neglected to draw Photos or Umbra, despite Nick having drawn his sword. Nick was first to the slash, cutting the air above Jay, who'd ducked when he saw the attack coming. Jay leaned forward, right up against Nick and slammed his fist across Nick's jaw.

Nick stumbled a few seconds, "Ah, fuck...That was not nice..." he said as his jaw finished healing. Jay had already charged in again, and that's when Nick took note of his eyes, one gold, one red. He sighed as he struck out towards Jay, who again saw it coming and grabbed his arm, pulling him close and off of his balance. Nick coughed as Jay slammed his left palm up against Nick's chin, tossing him upward. But before he got far, Jay reached up and grabbed Nick's ankle, yanking him back down as he turned on his heel, putting a foot or two between himself and Nick as he landed. He laced his hands and extended an elbow, using his heel to jam himself forward, crushing the base of Nick's breastbone with his elbow and tossing him back.

"Holy shit, my diaphragm..." Nick said as he quickly regenerated, intentionally mis-pronouncing diaphragm, putting emphasis on the G.

"What? Why are you pronouncing it like that? The G is silent and you know it..." Jay muttered, clearly a little annoyed.

"Dude, that hit was so intense, I'mma need some pumpkin pie with Cool Hwhip to feel better..." Nick said, standing up again and stretching.

Jay's jaw clenched, "I'm going to rip your throat out...Then you won't be able to annoy me with mispronunciations..." he said, smiling an almost manic looking smile. In the seats above the arena, Anna was putting her hand on her face and groaning.

"What...The fuck...Is Nick doing..." she said in an exasperated tone. It was clear to them that Nick wasn't using his aura to defend himself, and focusing all of it instead on regenerating.

Sasha shook her head with a smirk, "Oh come on...Jay's a pretentious and capable psychopath in a bottle that he made for himself...And he's pissed...Nick's doing the smart thing...And giving him what he wants...Something to be angry at." she answered, watching Jay draw his tonfas and attack Nick, who used his blade to block and dodge, as he hummed loudly. Anna chuckled and shook her head again, watching the match.

"Dude, that's how you say it, there's an H in there..." Nick explained, blocking frantically and trying to move out of Jay's reach...But if he wasn't in the path of the long-staff, Jay was shooting at him, backing him towards the wall.

"FOR THE LAST FUCKING TIME. THE FUCKING H. IS FUCKING SILENT." he shouted, jumping up into the air and landing directly on Nick's arms, which he'd crossed over his head to protect himself. Jay swung his staff around and slammed it into the base of Nick's spine, tossing him forward and pushing himself off of Nick's arms, tossing him down as well.

"You don't own English, Jay, maybe it's  **not** silent and we've just been lied to our whole lives!!!" Nick said, leaping to his feet after regenerating, and looking around with a feigned paranoid expression. Even Professor Goodwitch was becoming visibly annoyed by Nick's demeanor. But that wasn't any big news. It always seemed like Ms. Goodwitch was annoyed by everything...

"........I'm going to continue beating you now. I don't know when I'll stop. And I'm going to enjoy it far more than I should." Jay muttered, crouching down low and crossing his arms in front of himself, tonfas extended to their complete length.

"Hopefully before dinner, because I'm hungry, and I'm craving one of those...What're they called...Oh yes, a chimichanga. I want a chimichanga." he said out of nowhere. Jay's eyes visibly twitched in annoyance as he dashed towards Nick, arms crossed to strike. Nick smirked and pressed the crystal on his left palm against the small plate on the back of his sword and filled the blade with earth dust. Jay threw his arms out to attack, Nick raised his blade vertically to block. With the earth dust filling up the blade, Jay's attack was stopped dead as his tonfas struck the sword. But having been watching carefully, Jay had seen this coming, putting all his weight into his right foot instead of forward into his attack and stopping firm, then moving his weight to his left foot to keep himself from being pushed back.

Nick leaned in, putting his head next to his blade and looking Jay in the eyes, which remained gold and red, "You're very angry right now. Have you considered getting to the root of the problem?" he asked in a somewhat fake tone. Jay growled for a few seconds before stopping and looking past him at the stands, where Anna was tapping the of her head and raising an eyebrow. Jay glanced at Nick, who smirked again, also raising an eyebrow. "Took you long enough." he muttered. Jay saw his move coming even before he made it. Nick pushed his sword and drove it forward, intending to toss Jay off of him. But Jay had his weight on his left heel, and shifted back, jumping out of the attack's path quickly.

Jay sighed, rubbing his eyes for a few seconds before Nick spoke up, "We're done here...Jay's the winner..." he said to Goodwitch.

"Are you forfeiting, Mr. Cordero?" she asked.

"Kinda...I mean come on, it's clear he can see all my moves before I make them, especially since I'm still covered in dust from an accident earlier today. He's been hammering me from the beginning of the match. My health points are lower than his, and I'm not sure I'd be able to reduce his. He's just a better fighter than I am..." he said, winking at Jay and moving his hands back and forth between his forehead, and extending out in front of himself, as though he were a bad actor in a play. Jay rolled his eyes, shaking his head at the over-the-top performance.

Ms. Goodwitch was not nearly as amused by this though, "Do you think this is a video game? Do you think this is a game at all? Is that what this class is?" she asked in annoyance.

Nick shook his head, "Nah, it can't be a video game...And if it was, whoever is holding my controller isn't very good at it...Or maybe it's a PC game...But...I don't know, there aren't as many 3-D RPG Fighting games on PC...Those are better on console anyway...Or maybe this is just a straight-up narrative..." he responded.

Ms. Goodwitch looked like she was about to snap him in two. Jay walked quickly over to him after sheathing his tonfas and put his arm around his shoulder, pulling him from the arena. The group spent the time until the end of the class silent. When class ended, they all stood and quickly dashed from the hall before Ms. Goodwitch could notice. Nick was cracking his shoulders and stretching as they left.

"So, you feel better?" Nick asked, turning to Jay.

"Yeah. Thanks..." Jay responded.

"So what's causing all your recent...Meltdowns?...I mean since the Day of Thanks, that's...What, the fourth?" Sasha asked a little tentatively.

"I'm just feeling off lately. It's hard to explain..." he answered.

Anna shook her head, "It's not hard to explain...I understand exactly what's going on." she stated.

Nick, Jay, and Sasha all turned their attention to her.

"W-well...As a faunus, I understand the feeling of being threatened...You feel threatened by what Xellos said...His whole...Warning...And it's bringing up all your bad thoughts of what could happen...The thoughts that your normally sorted into the Dark Voice...And it's confusing, isn't it...Basically, you're letting the Dark Voice take control...You're doing what everyone does...We try and look at every possibility and stress ourselves to death to overcome all of them. But in your case...You normally overcame stress using the Dark Voice...You need that part of you right now when you're stressed...And it's bleeding through...So what you need is exactly what Nick was trying to give you...A way to release those thoughts and anger...Or at least that's what I think..." she explained, shrugging. Everyone was silent for a few seconds.

"Ahem, there ya' go. Root of the problem." Nick said with a flourish, waving his arms in front of him as though he were bowing.

"Uh...Ok...So...In order to fix...The thing...He has to...Let...His insane half...Burn off the stress?" Sasha asked.

Anna's ears twitched, "Pretty much...If that half was made to handle anger and stress, than he's got to let that half do what it's supposed to..." she said.

Jay shook his head, "No no no no...Alright, last time he got loose, I trashed a diner in a fight, not to mention stealing a car and putting four civilians in the hospital, one of whom is still there, driving to that restaurant. Not to mention other things...Alright? When I was occasionally travelling through the grimm territory with caravans, we ran into Grimm alot...And I literally  **fed**  people to the grimm to buy time for the caravan to escape...So no, I can't just let him lose..."

"Did you...Kill **innocent** people?" Sasha asked.

Jay raised his hands with his fingers splayed, "Eh...Mostly it was people I didn't like...Who'd proven themselves to be a danger to someone else's life or to the life of an innocent person...I say mostly because...Sometimes people volunteered for the good of the group..." he answered.

"Well Jay, it's not like you're alone...Each of us has had to kill before...Sasha's killed dangerous human-supremacist extremists who were a danger to innocent faunus lives...Nick killed for his target items or even to protect his clients...I've killed people who were trying to kill me when I was in the system..." Anna assured him.

"She's right...And besides, I recall last time, he got put in his place by Anna...We're sure you can control him...Just stay close to her, ok?" Nick told him. Jay looked around at them for a few seconds, then to Anna, who nodded with a smile, grabbing his hand.

"I got you, Jay...You support me, I support you. I'll help you stay on the not-murderous side..." she insisted, her ears twitching. Jay sighed and nodded, rubbing his eyes.

"Thanks, guys..." he muttered, keeping Anna's hand in his as they went to the next class. They met up with Team SCRT on the way, and Anna spent the time between classes trying to interrogate the twins about their conversation with Jay. Both teams, JNAS and SCRT, were eager for the day to end. It was the last day they had to play catch-up with their classes. And they were joined by the foreign students, who had come for the tournament, because they needed to assimilate into the school, which made everyone slightly uncomfortable. One of the students was insistent on not attending though...When the day was over, everyone rushed for dinner, wanting to enjoy their victory of being caught up while it lasted, because Sunday was the last day of the semester break. But the days didn't seem like even seconds as they passed.

Nick and Sasha went for another two dates, both ending in more disasters, one with a fire breaking out in the kitchen, followed by an explosion, during which Sasha smashed her way through walls to get people out. The second one was far more intentional, however, when they decided to drop everything to crash and destroy a human supremacist rally. Jay, who was clearly becoming more and more his alternate self every day, decided that whenever Nick and Sasha went on a date, he, Anna, and team SCRT would place bets on how it would go wrong. But it was also clearly helping him relax, as he had no further meltdowns...Anna had a relatively easy time keeping Jay in check, never having to do more than grab his hand, although they both always prefered to share a kiss as well. Sasha had taken to trying to do anything she could to get a picture, especially when both of them were smiling after each kiss. She endeavored to sneak a photo whenever she could, but had difficulty with Jay being more careful to stop her. When Sunday came, team JNAS was intent on something they'd committed to doing. They sat at the lunch table together with team SCRT.

"You guys are actually gonna do it...You're actually gonna go and see him, aren't you..." Sam asked them.

Nick nodded, "We got approval from Ozpin on Thursday...We're gonna do it." he answered.

"I've got a few more questions for him him anyway. Maybe if  **we** torture him, he'll talk." Jay asked, putting a hand to his chin.

"Jay, no. And besides, he wanted to talk to all of us anyway...If he really does have some information...We have to go see him." Anna spoke up.

Jay cleared his throat and leaned in to Anna, whispering in her ear for a few seconds, after which her face turned a deep shade of red and smiled as he sat up with a smirk.

"You seem different, Jay...Not yourself..." the twins noted.

"Don't ask about that..." Nick said quickly, as Jay was opening his mouth to speak. He stopped though as he and Anna heard a boom from the other end of the room. He and Anna glanced at eachother for a few seconds before standing.

"Whoa whoa, where are you two going?" Sasha asked as they passed.

"We're gettin' out of here...And you might want to follow..." Anna answered. The answer became clear however, when Jay looked at Nick and pushed him to the left a little, right into the path of a pie that was thrown from the other end of the room. Jay laughed and smirked. The whole hall was erupting in a food fight.

"ABSCOND." the twins said immediately, leaping up with Sam and Rachel. Nick and Sasha got up as well to get to the other end of the room. By the time they were nearing the door, a member of team JNPR, a girl with pink hair, had begun to pick up table after table and stack them at the end of the room. The students were now standing up and dashing for the door, which the two teams had already gotten out of. Team JNPR quickly set up a humongous fortress-like pile of tables, upon which the pink haired girl stood, shouting 'I'm queen o' the castle' repeatedly. Both teams, JNAS and SCRT, had stopped at the windows on the sides of the building to watch the brief but engaging fight between team's JNPR and RWBY. The head team member of RWBY, the youngest girl this year, finished with an incredible vortex attack that had left team JNPR pinned to the wall.

"You think we could have beaten that?" Nick said, glancing at Jay.

"Duh...It's obvious. Sashas uses her blade to sli-...Uh, actually, Sasha would use her strength...Yeah...To stop her in her tracks...You'd pump the room full o' wind dust...And me and Anna would use that to stop the vortex. How the fuck was that not obvious." he responded. He turned his attention from the room, however as Professor Goodwitch and Headmaster Ozpin approached, having been alerted by the students as to the events. Professor Goodwitch stomped past them without hesitation or delay though, intent on stopping the shenanigans in the dining hall.

"Headmaster...Glad we ran into you...Do me a favor and send Ironwood a message telling him to put on his best suit because we're headin' over there now..." Jay said, smiling.

"I see you're letting loose a bit...You should probably do so more often...But as for your message, and your visit...I'm not sure that's wise." he responded. Jay's smile immediately disappeared as Anna and Sasha stepped forward, also concerned by these words.

"What? Why not...We're goin' over there, Ozpin. You've already approved it, and we have to see him." Jay insisted, annoyed.

"I'm afraid that you can't anymore." he retorted.

Jay was becoming visibly angry, "Why the fuck not, Headmaster." he demanded.

"Because...I'm afraid the criminal, Xellos...Has escaped." Ozpin answered simply.

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> ATTENTION. FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO SEE THE ARTWORK, UNFORTUNATELY, AT THE REQUEST OF OUR ARTIST, IT HAS BEEN REMOVED FOR THE TIME BEING. I WILL LET YOU KNOW IF/WHEN WE ARE ABLE TO REPOST THE ART. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.  
> P.S. Also thank you to our friend Ebony who let us reference a character from her fanfiction. Namely, Al Eclipse.


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